Become an O:JA&L Member through Patreon.
Howie Good
Crises of Late Capitalism
I was hit with a hammer in an argument over $50. My daughters started screaming and went to hide in the kitchen and to follow the news on Facebook. There are times I think about going back. But I don’t go. And so it’s not just happenstance that I happen to be here. Blown-glass bottles thrown from ships in the eighteenth century are only now reaching shore.
&
Who owns the moon is a complicated subject. The situation is way beyond science. It’s one of these twisty turning things that becomes more twisted as it goes along. The whole night it’s slam, bang, boom. Glass is flying everywhere. I poke a stick in the ground, and stuff bubbles up. My reaction is, “No, no, no!” Everybody thinks I’m crazy, but I haven’t the slightest doubt that my own relatives planned to betray me, and at night, so nobody could see.
&
I say to my wife. “Is that what I think it is?” And she says, “Yep.” We watch for a while the burning bodies falling like bright stupid confetti. The flames behave in ways no one even thought possible. Then an unmarked cop car arrives and men in leather trench coats leap out and rush up the stairs. It’s hard to believe this is really happening, and that the music is still playing and everyone is sitting here drinking and having a good time. Give it a week, we’ll be living off crap from vending machines.
About the writer:
Howie Good is the author of The Loser’s Guide to Street Fighting, winner of the 2017 Lorien Prize from Thoughtcrime Press, and Dangerous Acts Starring Unstable Elements, winner of the 2015 Press Americana Prize for Poetry. His latest collection is I’m Not a Robot from Tolsun Books.
Image: The Girl with Apple (portrait of Lyana, a youngest daughter) by Mushail Mushailov (1941-2007). Oil on canvas. 0.80 x 1 m. 1994. By free license.
Become an O:JA&L Member through Patreon.
